Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Laurie's father had a security camera that would send videos to his iPhone. They've since been deleted, and he recently passed away, but she wants to find a way to recover them. How can she do that? Leo says that if the videos were deleted off the phone's SD card, they can be recovered. But another option is to look and see if there's a cloud backup option. If there is, the app may have uploaded the video to the cloud. There is a company called Cellebrite that can take the data off the phone as well.

Law enforcement has the capability to recover the data if there's a criminal issue. So if she's concerned about elder abuse, then that would be the next step. There are a few forensic methods to get the data and since Laurie has the unlock code, she's in good shape.

Chip has trouble texting to radio stations using Google Voice. It keeps getting bounced back. Leo says it's likely because the service that the radio stations use doesn't support it. Until they do, there's not much he can do.

Sergio has a car that uses Android Auto, but after the recent update, he can't use it with his Nissan vehicle. Leo says that it's likely that the Android update isn't supported by his car yet. There's really nothing he can do until the car's Android Auto app gets updated.

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Christie's parents have an older computer and they don't want to get rid of their 21" screen. Christie is going to try and use NeverWare to put ChromeOS on it. If that doesn't work, what are her options? Leo says that there are ChromeOS all-in-ones with 21" screens, and they're also extremely secure. Leo recommends checking out an Asus Chromebox.

Larry built his first computer in high school, running Linux, and it's 15 years old. Lately he's been having power issues and he has replaced the power supply, but still has the problem. Leo says that indicates a deeper problem on the motherboard. It could also be a failing video card, and the CMOS settings may be corrupted. Removing the battery and putting it back in will reset everything, but he may want to make sure all the cables are seated, and that the RAM is properly installed.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Vino wants to know if he can delete the apps on his Roku box. Leo says to click on the asterisk and select the app, and he can delete them from there.

Vino is also having issues with his home theatre system, and the TV speakers are going off when moving to outside speakers. Leo says that the TV thinks he has something connected, like a home theatre system, so it turns off the speakers on his TV. One option is to turn on ARC, or audio return channel. That will bring the sound back to his TV speakers while going to external sources. Connecting through an optical jack will also enable him to do it.

Noah's girlfriend lost her smartphone, but they found it and the screen is shot. The phone still works, but they'd like to get the contacts off. Leo says they can connect it to a computer and use the Android File Transfer app on a Mac, or use it as a hard drive on a PC. The PC will read the phone as a hard drive and then they can hunt around and find all the data. She should look in the Android Data folder, check "SD0", copy all of it to the hard drive, and then root around.

This Week in Tech News

There's a huge security flaw in WINRAR, that will enable hackers to take over your computer. So Leo advises that if you use WINRAR to zip/unzip your files, that you should update to the latest beta version. But you have to go to the WINRAR site and manually download the update. There is no automatic update.

Accusing Apple of anti competitive behavior, Spotify's music streaming service says that the company charges a 30% commission for subscriptions through the Apple store, while charging 30% less for their own music service.

Leo bought the Samsung Galaxy S10+, a phone with 10TB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a ceramic back. For $1500. Leo says it's a really nice phone. Reviews are mixed, but buyers seem to like it, with preorders doubling the last generation. Samsung has avoided "the notch," but instead, they have a "hole punch," which houses two selfie cameras. Is that any different than the notch? Not really. It's also nearly as big as the Note 9 and has the best screen on the market. But Leo says it's so fast that it's hyper-responsive. It reacts to being touched on the edge. It also has three cameras on the back. It also has an under-screen fingerprint ID, which isn't very fast and requires a little patience. AND IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK!

In a new announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook is moving towards a more privacy-focused experience, including encryption, private groups, and more. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook doesn't have a reputation for security and privacy, and they plan to change all that. With sharing on Facebook going down by 25%, especially with younger users, Zuckerberg says that the social media network is going to move from a town square, to your own living room. It's a serious PIVOT. Leo says that Zuckerberg has made promises like this before, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. Is it possible to have a privacy-focused Facebook? Only time will tell, but Leo says it's a good idea.